Sgthkareli, 1956. ''I CPS. 1. I. 'S Mied SOOTH PACIFIC Cohrabemce : ^-^R U a U O D J to Opan in JI.U on Aiarll 2? Over Seranty Rs^Esentatives of Ei^Teen
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II ^SgthKareli, 1956. ''I CPS. 1. i. 's miED SOOTH PACIFIC COHraBEMCE : ^-^r U A U O d j To Opan In JI.U On Aiarll 2? Over seranty rs^esentatives of ei^teen. Pacific laland territorioa will assemble st Hasisu, noai^^^a, HJl, on April 2} for the opening of the Third South Pacific Conference, which will last tmtil May 3- The Conference la being organized by the South Pacific CoBmlssion, of which it is an auxiliary body. It will be held under the chairmanship of Sir Ronald Garvey, K.C.H.G., K.C.7.O., H.B.E., Governor of Fiji and Senior Commisaioner for the United Kingdom to the South Pacific Commission. Delegates will travel £roa aa far afield as Setherlands Hew Guinea in the wast to French Oceania in the east, and from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Is- lands north of the equator to the Cook Islands in the south. They will represent more than three million inhabitants of many hundreds of islands and atolls scattered ovar thirteen aillion square ailea of Pacific ocean. ObserverB will be present frots variouB international bodies including the Vorld Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and f^m universities, research iastitirtloiis and Bdssiosary organisations. At the meeting delegates will disouas common problems relating to the wel- fare and progress of their peoples. They will review the past, present end future work of the South Pacific Commission, an International body set up in 1947 by the • GoTemments of Australia, franca, the Beiherlanda, New Zealand, the Iblted kingdom and the United States of America, to s^e reconmendatloBa to them for Improving the living standards of Pacific island ishabitanta. -2- Ka^ topics that d^egatea will discuss relate to the economic develop- ment of the region. They include prospects for developing industries in the Pacific, co-operativo societieB and credit unions, improvement of pastures and livestock, soil conservation, and development of fisheries. Subjects for con- sideration in the social development field include problems of infant and maternal welfare in the Pacific, and the fostering of indigenous arts, customs and cultures. I^om-the Conference will emerge recommendations by delegates for further action by the Commission, its member govermenta and administrations of Pacific tei>- ritories. Commissioners of the six member governments, who will attend the Confer- ence as observers, will consider these proposals at a special session of the Commission that will be held immediately the Conference ends. fbllowisg the last Conference, which was held at Commiasion headquarters at Houmra, Hew Caledonia, in April 1953, delegates put forward forty-nine suggestions for the father econonio and social dsvelopaant of their island territories. At the coming Conference, a progreaa report on the present atate of mattsfa then dia- cnsaed will be tabled for the consideration of delegates. I CPS. 2 19th April, 1956- ilHIRD SODTH PACIFIC COHgESgiCE Official Opening At Suva Next Monday SUVA, Thursday - Sixty-six delegates (five of them women) who represent ei^teen territories in the South Pacific are assembling in Fiji for the opening of the Third South Pacific Conference on Monday, 23rd April. The Conference will be held at Nasinu five miles from Suva in the buildings of a teachers' training college. Here the men and women making up the Con- ference will be housed and fed and will hold their discussions on matters of interest to all of them from 23rd April to Jri May. An archway symbolic of liji's warlike past and its present-day fSriendliness spans the entrance to the pleasant college grounds: Biji war clubs grouped above the huge representation of a whale's tooth. Inside the grounds the flags of six nations fly from poles above the main Conference room - Australia, Prance, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. These are the nations responsible for the administration of the territories represented at the Conference; also they are represented on the South Pacific Commission of which the Conference is an auxiliaiy body. The delegates come from all over the South Pacific. They are being flown into fljl from places as-far away aa Samoa, Netherlands New Guinea, Papua, Tahiti and other Erencb Pacific possessions, the New Hebrides, the atolls of the Gilbert and the Ellice Grouj. The delegates from the United States Trust Territories will arrive in Fiji only a few hours before the Conference opens. -2- The Governor of Hji, Sir Ronald Garvey, will officially open the Conference at 1020 hours on Monday after inspecting a guard of honor of fijian troopa. He will welcome the delegates and at the sane time talk ahout the work that will come before the Conference. Sir Ronald is also Senior Commissioner for the United Kingdom on the South Pacific Commiesion and he will be phaipnan of the Conference. Monday's proceedings after tha official opening will be devoted to addresses from the Secretary-General, Sr. Ralph Clalron Bedell, and Executive Officera of the Commission responsible for health, ^congmio and social develop- ment. The delegates will then elect a general committee which will be re- sponsible for the conduct of the Conference. Standing committees will also be elected from amongst the delegates. The plenary sessions will start on Tuesday, 24th April. The agenda lists for diecussion questions of economic education and development, farming systems, co-operative societies and credit unions as a means of promoting the people's welfare, indigenous arts, customs and cultures, infant and maternal welfare. This Conference is the third of the series provided for in the • Agreement which set up l^e South Pacific Commission and it is the second of them to be held in Fiji. The Second Conference held at Noumea three years ago e::Q>ressed a wish to take a greater part in the actual conduct of the Conference business. One of the significant hopes of this coming Conference is that the delegates will do that by sending subjects to committees over which the delegates themselves will preside. That matter will be decided in the first plenary session. - CPS. 3 24-01 April, 1956. THIHD SODTH PACIFIC CONPEHENCE Official Opening By Govamor Of Fi.ii Keynote of addresses at -the official opening of the Third South Pacific Conference at Nasinu, Fiji, on 23rd April was the emphasis placed by the Governor of Fiji, Sir Ronald Garvey, K.C.M.6., K.C.V.O., M.B.E., and other speakers on the value of the Conference in promoting friendship, progress and unders-fcanding among the Pacific islanders. It was a colourful ceremony from the moment -the Govamor drove under an archway of crossed war clubs and a huge representation of a whale's tooth (tabua), the ancient symbol of Fijian welcome, and inspected a guard of honour of Fijian troopa wearing full ceremonial dress — scarlet jacket, white aulu. Inaide the Conference hall were seventy delegates from ei^teen South Pacific territories, members of -the South Pacific Commission, and observers from international, scientific, universi-ty and miasionaiy organizationa. The kleig li^ts of movie and television units made the flag-bedecked hall a blaze of colour. Cameras recorded the scene from all angles, and radio units made a direct broadcast of the event. The delegations sat at tablea facing Sir Ronald Qarvey who, as Govamor, wel- comed them to Fiji and also addressed them as Chairman of the Conference. Hany of the delegates were in -tradi-tional dress. Some are big men physical- ly, but -the biggest was dwarfed by the two sons of Queen Salote of Tonga. Five of the delegates are women. Sir Ronald Carv^ said he felt confident that the delegates' deliberations would add to the effectiveness of the Sou-th Pacific Commission, of which the Con- ference was an auxiliary, as well as promote a greater unders-tanding of common prob- lems and a greater bond of friendship and common purpose in furthering the welfare of -the Pacific people as a whole. -2- Xhe Secretaiy-Ckmeral of the Commission, T>r. Balph Clairon Bedell, said the two previous Conferences had demonstrated that sense of social responsibility for - - which the Pacific islander was justly famed, and had enabled a deeper insist into those complex problems of living in the modem world which must be solved if the progress now being made by the islanders was to be continued. The Conmiission's effective contribution to regional progress owed much to the counsel and practical assistance of its participating governments, territorial ad- ministrations, interested institutions, and its two auxiliary bodies, the Research Council and the South Pacific Conference. Br. E.H. Ojala, former Deputy Chairman of the Research Council, said the value of exports in the Pacific territories had risen steadily since 195?. Increases in prices as well as production had contributed to that happy result, but the gain in economic welfare waa no less real on that account. Community development, as he had seen it in Asian countries, Dr. Ojala added, was one of the most significant processes for human progress at work today. India had initiated a vigorous and well thou^t out plan for economic and social progress, and the whole population was participating with great enthusiasm. Yet it was esti- Biated that it would take twenty years to double the average income level of the peo- ple of India. Dr. Ojala said he believed that the Commission had gained greatly in effec- tiveness and prestige since the last Conference was held. Major factors.were the fine field work of project officers in the various territories and the fact that notable scientific and international institutions were increasingly using the Com- mission as a means of making their contribution to the development of the region and its people.